India has been one of the strongest teams in the last few years in world badminton, but their performance in the Sudirman Cup has failed to improve. India has not won a single medal in the competition, and 2017 proved to be another failure as India lost to China in the quarterfinals on Friday.
India had done splendidly well to reach the quarterfinals of the Sudirman Cup, finishing second in a group, which included Denmark and Indonesia. But, ten-time champion, China was always going to be a huge task with the Asian giants being solid in both the doubles and singles contest.
However, India started their day on a good note as Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won the first game of their mixed doubles tie, but lost the next two to give China 1-0 lead.
With one tie down, there was a serious need for Kidambi Srikanth to come up with some stunning win to beat China's Chen Long. The Chinese player was in outstanding form as he demolished the Indian shuttler in straight games, 21-16, 21-17. Long took 48 minutes to give China 2-0 lead.
The writing was on the wall for India as the men's doubles lost their match to be knocked out of the competition as well.
